Review: Sennheiser CX 300 II Precision Headphones, Best in Category

I had heard a lot about Sennheiser’s line of headphones and finally decided to give it a try. I tried both the Bose MIE2 and Sennheiser CX 300 In-ear headphones and ultimately purchased the latter. Here’s my full review of the Sennheiser CX 300-II Precision headphones.

I can’t live without music. So, I needed a decent pair of headphone to accompany my iPod Touch 4G when traveling.

I have always been a great fan of in-ear and ear-canal headphones. The noise isolation and great sound reproduction that these offer, I haven’t seen on any of the on-ear headphones. Mind you, we are talking sub $150 headphones.

After looking through the specs and reviews online, I had shortlisted the following two headphones for a personal review before purchase.

Bose MIE2

Sennheiser CX 300 II Precision

The Bose headset is priced at $130 or Rs. 7650. The Sennheiser headphones mentioned above has a price tag of $80 or Rs. 2790. You can buy these for lower from Amazon(US customers) and Indian readers can find these on eBay or Flipkart.

While the CX 300-II is the entry level headphone from Sennheiser, it succeeded in amazing me by its excellent noise isolation and great frequency response.

Design:

The CX 300 has a very minimal design. Not as much as Etymotic though, but definitely much better than Bose. Unlike Bose’s sleeve design which doesn’t stay in the ears so well, the CX 300 with the right set of buds will give you snug fit and isolate most noise if not all. Smaller headphones have an advantage when using while in bed. Larger headphones tend to hurt your ears when lying on your side.

The box includes a small pouch to carry the headphones and three pairs of ear adapters (S/M/L) The secret behind great music from in-ears is perfect fit. So, make sure you install the ones with the most comfortable fit inside your ears.

Volume and Bass Response:

The CX 300 was noticeably louder than most headphones. There was almost no distortion at loud volumes. If you are looking for headphones with some deep bass, you will not be disappointed by CX 300. In fact, even the Bose headphones performed quite well when it came to lower frequencies.

The volume is important to me because, the Zagg Smartbuds that I own are an amazing set of in-ears but with a lower maximum volume. If you like facts and numbers, here they are. The CX 300 will give you roughly 121dB of maximal usable volume while the Bose unit too maxes out at 119.6dB. The Zagg Smartbuds on the other hand cannot produce more than 110dB.

You should also know that anything significantly greater than 120dB is harmful to the ears.

Conclusion:

I haven’t been able to try any other Sennheiser units due to unavailability at the store but I did try a lot many Bose headsets. My final word is that, if there is just one pair of headphones you could own this is the one.

Headphones are prone to damage. So, Sennheiser gives you a great advantage with the lower price point. If these last you more than two years without a wire snapping, or a car door closing on the phones or someone accidentally sitting on the headphones, consider yourself very lucky.

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Which headphones are you using and if you can share your feedback about it, do let us know via comment.